A problem that has been reported in several places is the lack of validators in a key place at Custom House. As part of the new Elizabeth line station, a set of escalators has been provided from the DLR platforms up to the side gate into the Elizabeth line station. The problem is that no-one thought to install validators to exit from the DLR before using the gates to enter the Elizabeth line. This meant that people were charged an incomplete journey when they went through the gates to start a new Elizabeth line journey. It’s potentially worse the other way as the exit from the gates will end your Elizabeth line journey and if you don’t seek out a validator before getting on the DLR you will be travelling without a ticket and liable to a penalty fare or potential prosecution.
So, to alleviate this issue TfL have set continuation entry on the side gate entrance to the Elizabeth line. This means that you don’t need to touch out from the DLR and your journey will automatically be continued. I’ve tested this last night after watching Geoff’s final video in the Elizabeth line series and it definitely works, but only at the side gate. If you try to enter at the front entrance having forgotten to touch out from the DLR then it will give you an incomplete journey.
There is also no cure for the problem going to the DLR from the Elizabeth line, so I strongly recommend using the front exit gates from the Elizabeth line which will cause you to go past validators before going down to the DLR.
Which brings me to the issue of why interchange between Southeastern and Elizabeth Line at Abbey Wood has been difficult. if you travel up from Kent you can’t jump across on the footbridges and tap into Pay as you go prices, instead it’s a trip up and down through the gate line
Abbey Wood is politically difficult. Other nearby stations are open meaning that it would be quite easy for people to travel free to Abbey Wood and start paying there. Other than being at the rear of the London bound train, the footbridge to the gateline isn’t much further than using either of the other two bridges. With no money to gate and staff stations beyond Abbey Wood, I don’t see the government enabling even more fare evasion.
Just to come back to this, looks like the validators are going in this month at Abbey Wood, looks like MTR won the battle on this
That’s interesting. I wonder whether those validators will get a lot of attention from RPIs, like the ones at Stratford do.
I’ve found out the hard way that this no longer works – now you need to touch out from the DLR before touching in again on the Elizabeth Line.
This means you can’t take the escalators to change for the Elizabeth Line any more. You have to go the long way round and miss your connection. They really messed up the design of this station.
Hi Alexander,
You’re right. I’m in the process of providing a new post on this matter.
Have to register just to echo this. I fell into this trap this morning. It is ridiculously frustrating as there is no touch point nor instruction.
I don’t know if the problem has FINALLY been addressed yet but the tap out issue between dlr from Beckton changing to Elizabeth line at Custom House was still an issue as of 24th March 2023 when I discovered my daughter, who had started taking this route to college at Abbey Wood, was consistently getting a no touch out charge on her 16+ Oyster card, now £4.70 each time in addition to the proper fare. This strikes me as fraudulent, since the issue was obviously going on a while before this. The penalty fare is said to be because they don’t know where you’ve travelled but if you touch in at Beckton then again at Custom House twenty minutes later it should be obvious. Because her card was set on auto top up from a credit card I only used for that, but without an app on my phone it didn’t really register that the top ups had become more frequent until March, doing accounts etc. now tfl is saying they are unable to go back more than eight weeks despite a member of staff at Custom House saying they could apply refunds for up to a year. Any advice?
Hi Catherine,
So, journey history can be accessed for 8 weeks on Oyster (or zip), but up to a year if a contactless payment card is used. I trust your daughter now knows to go back to a DLR validator before entering the Elizabeth line station? Also, have you now applied for refunds for everything TfL say they can do?
As for the rest of the issue, you might need to build a case. Can you analyse when top ups were taken and when the frequency increased? My understanding is that the temporary fix was put in on the side gates in June last year. It appears as though that might have been over-written with the fares update in September. So if top ups increased then it might help to demonstrate the problem. Obviously summer holidays complicate things a bit.
I’d be happy to take a look at your analysis if you want. You can send it to mike (at) oysterfares.com. If you have a list of dates your daughter attended college we can try and work out a figure. If TfL still aren’t playing ball then maybe the Evening Standard might take up the case. Or you could try London Travelwatch.
I do appreciate your frustration with the incomplete journey charge in your particular case. It has to deal with missing touches wherever they might occur and are supposed to be a trigger for the passenger to investigate where they’ve gone wrong. Other things I’d suggest doing are linking your daughters zip card to your Oyster account and setting up weekly or monthly journey history emails.